Letters to the editor Friday: Visitor offers kudos to CAT

Thursday

Jun 13, 2019 at 11:11 PMJun 14, 2019 at 8:24 AM

Visitor offers kudos to CAT

Transit is a critical public service, a fact I was reminded of during a recent visit to Savannah.

I was downtown with my daughter and granddaughters when my daughter fell ill. She returned to the car to rest, encouraging me to enjoy the sites with my girls, only to text me later to say she had driven herself to the hospital.

Suddenly stranded, I considered calling a taxi until one of the free downtown Chatham Area Transit shuttles pulled up nearby. I asked the nice young lady driving about getting to Candler Hospital. She pointed me toward a bus stop that would take me to the hub and get me on the proper bus and she contacted her supervisor to assist me further.

The supervisor met me at the hospital bus stop with her van and took me the remaining distance. I thanked her from the bottom of my heart. Her response? “That is what customer service is all about.” It brought tears to my eyes.

Thank you to all the folks who were so instrumental in getting us to our destination. They are kind and compassionate and Savannah is blessed to have wonderful people like them working with you and for you.

Transportation is a vital service that many cities offer. Where I come from in Florida, we do not have a mass transit system. When Hurricane Charley came through our area in 2004, the mass transit system that we used was our school district bus fleet. It was critical to moving people to a sheltered area where they could meet with Federal Emergency Management Agency staff, get a hot meal, get a hot shower or just rest for awhile. We were delivering supplies with our buses, as well.

Thank you again, CAT, from the bottom of my heart.

Jill Mead, Port Charlotte, Fla.

Trump's reckoning coming in 2020

Some 35 percent of us support President Donald Trump. Ask why and they will say, “I hated Hillary.” But that was 2016, not an answer for 2020. They will say, “We wanted a tax cut and a conservative court.” You now have those.

But what about the nation’s future?

Trump is a serial liar who now threatens the world’s economy with his tariff insanity. He coddles dictators and insults allies and destroys our moral standing. He violated his marriage vows. He is a financial fraud. He is willing to use race to create hate and division. He shames the presidency with childish insults and ignorance.

Trump dodged the draft with a fake injury and his White House orders the name of a U.S. prisoner-of-war to be hidden so as to not upset him. That name was the USS John McCain, honoring Sen. McCain; his father, an admiral I served under; and his grandfather, also an admiral. Has a single Trump served in our nation’s forces?

Yet 35 percent support him. If you are one of them, is it through intentional blindness? Loyalty to the Republican Party over our country? Or a lack of moral fiber?

The answer will come in November 2020 when the soul and future of the United States will be revealed.

John Wilson Morris, Savannah

Public infrastructure use presents quandary

SCAD will celebrate their 40th year in existence this year; no small feat. Here in Savannah, the amount of buildings remodeled or built new has literally changed the landscape of downtown Savannah.

What will happen over the next 40 years, only time will tell. One of the issues brought to light recently by columnist Ken Zapp is the need for an institution this large to pay to help support the city's infrastructure. As new buildings are built or remodeled and then taken off the property tax rolls, the sewer lines, water lines and roads used by SCAD and their constituents will need to be redone, fixed or replaced over time.

Who pays for these utilities? Taxpayers do. SCAD generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the city and the businesses that benefit from its presence, but so does Gulfstream, Crystal Sugar, the Georgia Ports Authority, and on and on.

Let us take a longer-term view on how we deal with not only SCAD and their lack of paying directly into the city coffers, but also how we will grow as a city and how our city leaders are directing us over the next 100 years in getting us there.

Douglas Kaufman, Savannah

Disappointed in customer service efforts

Is there anywhere in this city to get excellent service, without bad attitudes and no regard for the customer standing in your business spending their money? Other than Chick-fil-A and Publix?

Maybe it's time we stop shopping in these businesses until they put effort into training their staff on how to provide better customer service. No matter when you visit Chick-fil-A or Publix, the customer service is always real natural and friendly. If you want me to continue patronizing your business, please provide better customer service. Or the message of having less foot traffic in your business may put you out of business.

Sabrina E. Kent, Savannah

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